Winners selected in ESA space art contest

31 January 2007

Pupils from all over Germany joined ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter's ground-breaking Astrolab mission by taking part in an art contest. Over 500 excellent submissions made judging a challenge and showed that European students are interested in space and potential careers as scientists, engineers and explorers.

ESA's "Ich will's wISSen" (I want to know it) student art contest was held during Thomas Reiter's 171-day Astrolab mission to the International Space Station, which ended on 22 December 2006. The contest was publicised via a special website set up on the ESA Portal, and invitations were mailed last year to all German primary schools with the cooperation of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Students from German elementary schools were invited to submit art projects on the theme of space and exploration, and the idea quickly caught on. Over 2500 pupils at 77 schools across the country submitted over 500 projects ranging from drawings, pictures, paintings and 3D papier-mâché creations to innovative video and robotic installations.

Expert jury assesses art for imagination & creativity

Expert jury assesses student projects

On 31 January 2007, a team of expert judges from ESA, Germany's Südwestrundfunk, a radio and TV broadcaster, and GEOlino, the children's version of the popular "Geo" nature magazine, gathered at ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany, to assess the submissions and award prizes to the top ten entries.

The judging was covered by regional German media.

Thomas Reiter

ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, born in Frankfurt, Germany, has often stated his strong personal support in inspiring students towards a future in science.

His Astrolab mission included a series of student-focussed activities, including innovative joint ground/space experiments transmitted on German TV to investigate the behaviour of liquids under weightless conditions.

Science motivates youth

"The many incredibly creative submissions that we received indicate that even young children can gain tremendous inspiration from science and research issues. Astronaut missions to the ISS as well as unmanned missions to Mars, Venus and the Moon are an excellent vehicle for motivating youth towards scientific and technical careers," said Jocelyne Landeau-Constantain, Head of Corporate Communications at ESOC.

The jury announced the winners after an intense assessment which was made difficult by the very high quality and imagination shown in all the projects, which were done by class teams. The winning students/classes will be invited to meet Reiter in person later in March 2007.

Links to Top 10, many others and video

The ESA Portal is pleased to present links to the Top 10 projects, an image gallery showing a selection of the best and most interesting other submissions and to the video "Start zur ISS," an excellent 'trick film' produced by the students of Grundschule Mitte Noerdlingen.